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His Holy Temple

Habakkuk 2: 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

The Lord: That is who, Him and no other.

Is In: That is where he dwells. That is the only place He will dwell.

His: Ownership. It belongs to Him alone.

Holy: God is holy and cannot dwell in an unholy place.

Temple: So what is God’s Temple?

Is it this church? Is it the Vatican? Is it the Temple Mount? Is it Heaven?

Acts 7: 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

What is his temple?

Logos was God’s first temple.

Jesus was Logos.

John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…..14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The prophet on 80 different occasions said “God is in his Word”. Logos is the full expression of the Lord God towards us. All his thoughts and desires concerning humanity, all his creation, all his mercy, all his healing, all his deliverance, all his resurrection, all his righteousness, was expressed in his Word, Logos.

The Lord is in Logos. In Logos dwelt the fullness of the godhead, Spiritual. Logos was not some mist, some vapour; Logos is the Theophany of God. That is the Body that walked with Adam and Eve in Eden in the cool of the day. That was the body that Moses saw when he said that he looked like the back of a man. The fullness of the Lord God Elohim, Jehovah, manifested in the Theophany of Logos, the Revealed Word of God.

Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

Did you ever wonder when this scripture, this prophesy, was truly fulfilled?

Matthew 3: 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

Jesus Christ is the Word of God, Logos, made flesh. In him then dwelt the fullness of the godhead bodily. This is where the Holy Spirit became one with the flesh of the man Jesus Christ. This is where Jesus as the only begotten child of God received the adoption to be the only begotten Son of God. He became the complete and total representation and manifestation of God in the form of human flesh.

Matthew 17: 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Jesus Christ is the Temple of God, and in him dwells the fullness of God. God is in his Holy Temple. God is in his Word. God is in Logos. God is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 2: 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

Jesus Christ is the Holy Temple of God! It is not the building. It is not the organization. It is not in a creed or dogma. It is not a doctrine. God is in his Holy Temple. God is in his Word!

Who are we? Where do we fit in?

Ephesians 2: 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

This is not figurative or symbolic. We were raised up. We are made to sit together, all of us, as one, IN heavenly places IN Christ Jesus. We are in Logos. Adam’s Bride was taken out from his side, but the Bride of Christ isn’t take out, she is called IN to Jesus, through his side. When his side was pierced, out came water blood and spirit. As we enter IN to Christ, we do so in that order, through water, then blood, then spirit. We will look closer in a few minutes.

God, knowing the end from the beginning, when he spoke his fullness into the Word, he spoke your name and my name. The full manifestation of the Lord God and his complete plan of salvation, including the identity of every single one of his predestinated seed, the Born Again Christians, the Bride of Christ, was spoken at that time. You were in Logos before the very first sub-atomic particle was created.

You and I were IN Christ Jesus, Logos, the Word of God, from before the beginning of all time!

Deuteronomy 16: 6 But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

WHERE IS GOD’S CHOSEN PLACE OF WORSHIP? William Branham 1965

QUOTE: “But there’s one PLACE I can take you to, where you’re safe and protected from death, that’s in JESUS CHRIST, God’s PLACE of worship. That’s the PLACE I’m introducing to you, tonight, where God put His NAME. Where He promised He would MEET every person that come in there, He would worship with Him and feast with Him, that’s in Christ; not in NO church, no tabernacle.

But He said, “I’ll choose the PLACE to put My Name.” And the NAME was JESUS. And Jesus is the Word, Saint John 1. Is that right? That’s the PLACE of worship, in Christ the Word. God chose the place; not in NO church denomination, but in Jesus Christ. Yes, sir.

Now, that’s why, we, “All we DO in word or in deed, we do it in the NAME of Jesus Christ.” “There is NOT another NAME given under Heaven for salvation, but the Name of Jesus Christ.” There’s not another name given under Heaven whereby a man must be saved, only in the Name of Jesus Christ.” Amen. I hope you get it. The Name of Jesus Christ. Highest Heaven is named Him, “All the family in Heaven is named Jesus,” the Bible said, “and all the family on earth is named Jesus.” So that’s God’s chosen Name and where He has put It. That’s His place of worship, is in Jesus Christ. Now, we know that to be so, no other place to worship but in Him.”

Every denomination will quote that “all we do in word and deed we must do in His Name”, and then in the same breath refuse to baptize in His Name. God cannot recognize you if you do not come according to his word.

John 4: 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him MUST worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is Spirit. God’s Word is Truth. God’s Spirit is in God’s Word! There are not three gods, or three persons. There is ONE God, ONE person, the Lord Jesus Christ, in three offices. God the Father above us. God the Son with us. God the Holy Spirit in us. Three manifestations of the self same God. The Lord is in his Holy Temple, and that temple is the Word of God. To worship God we “MUST” do so in the Temple, IN Spirit and IN Truth. Without that Temple, our prayers cannot be heard.

No denomination. No organization. No creeds. No religions. In Spirit and IN Truth. God is in his holy temple!

We have to meet him there or we will not meet him at all!

If you were not in the Ark, you were lost. If you were not under the Passover lamb blood, you were lost. If you are not IN Christ Jesus, the Holy Temple of God, YOU ARE LOST.

James 2: 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

Oh it goes deeper!

What name are you called by? Your old name is GONE. You have a new name. Just as Jacob became Israel, as Abram became Abraham, when you meet God, he changes your name. You are now called by the name of Jesus Christ! As we just read the Prophet said “Christ Jesus is God’s Place of Worship”. He is in his Holy Temple! He has placed his Name on you.

1 John 5: 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

There is no other God before him. He is all in all. The True God and Eternal Life. Here is where we fit in.

1 Corinthians 6: 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

YOU are God’s temple. When the Spirit of God quickens His Word IN you, then you become the Temple of God and he indwells you. God is in His Holy Temple.

His Temple. Ownership! He purchased you with his own blood. He dwells in his temple, in the Born Again Christian. He does not dwell in organizations, or churches, or religions. We read in Revelation that he is outside knocking at the door of the heart. He wants to make us his temple. He wants to dwell in us.

1 Corinthians 3: 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

You and I are God’s temple. If we defile that temple, we will be destroyed. Take that as a stern warning. As we heard on Sunday it would be better for us never to be born or have a stone tied around our necks and be cast into the sea than to offend God’s Temple.

You are God’s Temple and he is in his holy temple.

Hebrews 9: 1Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

There are three Courts in the Temple. Outer, Inner, Holiest of Holies. As God’s Temples, we too are trinary. We have three distinct parts, three separate states.

Body, Spirit, Soul.

Justification, Sanctification, Glorification.

Glorify?

John 17: 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

There are five out court experiences. 1)Sight, 2)Hearing, 3)Taste, 4)Touch, 5)Smell. These are outer court experiences. They will fool you. Anyone can receive them. You get a sensation. Could be a pinched nerve. You raise your hands. You shout. Physical. Outer Court. Shake hands with the preacher. Take a vow. Make a confession. Outer. Physical. CARNAL!

There are five inner court experiences. 1)Imagination, 2)Memory, 3)Affection, 4)Consciousness, 5)Reasoning. These are Inner Court Experiences. The devil can trick you with these so easily because most people cannot recognize that these things are NOT in the Holiest of Holies. This is how Eve got tricked in Eden Satan came to her with an Outer Court Experience that led her to an Inner Court Experience. Reasoning. Emotions. Emotions are strong and most people think the emotion is God. You get that at ball games. You get excited. You cry. You laugh. Emotions. We need them, but they can fool us. We can cry at a sad movie, the movie is a lie, the story never happened, the people are just actors. It is an Inner Court Experience, it FEELS real, but it is a lie. CARNAL!

FAITH: Holiest of Holies! That is where the Lord God is. That is where the altar is. That is where the shew bread is. That is where the Word is! That is where the Holy Spirit is. Until we enter there we will never have an experience with the Living God. To get in there, we must be HOLY. We must be sanctified. We must be justified. We must be HOLY.

The physical won’t get you into the inner court. We can get justified and stop, not go forward. Foolish virgins. Bride material. Sinless. Burning lamp, but no oil.

The emotional, the mental, the sanctification, will not get you into the Holiest of Holies. We can be sanctified and stop there. Foolish virgins again. Bright lamp again, but no oil. They will be left behind at the rapture. They are very good people, Church folks. They will give you the shirt off their backs and feed you their last meal. They are kind, they are justified, they are sanctified, but not Holy.

The only thing that can enter the Holiest of Holies, the Altar of the Heart, is FAITH. That is why we can have the baptism of the Holy Ghost without sensation. It is not an outer court experience. It is not an inner court experience. It is a Holiest of Holies experience. It is a FAITH experience.

I can preach you into the Outer Court. I can even preach you into the Inner Court. But to enter the Holiest of Holies, I can only show you the way, you will have to go in there alone. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that will find it. It is so narrow only one can enter at a time and we cannot bring anything along. Our creeds, our denominations, our dogmas, our traditions, our cultures will all prevent entry. There is no room in there for them. We have to go by and with Faith alone.

God has provided a way, and there is NO other way to come to him. We must come through the outer court, then come through the inner court, then enter the Holiest of Holies. There is no other way. Jesus said that he is the door and anyone who attempts a different way is a thief and a liar. A robber, robbing God!

Jesus is the Word of God, Logos made flesh. The Bible is Logos, Jesus Christ, in print form. The Bible in Acts 2: 38-39 gives us God’s provided way. That is the one and only method that the Lord God recognizes for baptism. There is NO other way. Get baptized in titles, you will get an outer court experience, and an inner court experience, emotion. But that way will lead you around in circles and NEVER bring you to the door. Never bring you to Christ because it is not God’s provided way. It is the same if we are baptized with sprinkling. It is only through God’s provided way, through strict obedience to the Bible, through the proper Christian baptism, that we can come to the door.

Too many people are walking in circles in the Inner Court, and in the Outer Court, and never coming to the knowledge of Christ. They are like Israel in the wilderness. They rejected God’s provided way at Kadesh Barnea and wandered around. They had the Word. They had signs and wonders. They did not have Christ! So to today. Come God’s provided way!

Faith, the sixth sense. This is literally the one and only channel to reach God. It is God’s provided way. That is why we can only worship God in his Temple, in the Holiest of Holies. That is the place where FAITH resides. God is IN his HOLY temple.

It does not matter how well we sing, our songs will not reach heaven if we do not have the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Neither will our prayers. In fact the Bible goes so far as to say that none of us even know how to pray and that the Holy Spirit speaks for us when we pray, the Voice behind the Voice, to make intercession for us.

If we do not have the Holy Spirit, it says in Romans, we are not even Christians.

Do you see it?

He is not in his JUSTIFIED Temple!

He is not in his SANCTIFIED Temple!

They are both empty.

THE LORD GOD IS ONLY IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE!

We have to go through the outer court to get to the inner court. The three courts are concentric. There is no shortcut. How can we be sanctified as sinners? We need remission of sins first! We need to be washed. Justification comes before Sanctification. Repent and be baptized, that was the order of the day. Peter did not tell them to get sanctified. He told them to get justified first. Get under the blood.

We have to go through the inner court to get to the Holiest of Holies. God cannot dwell in an unclean vessel. We need to be sinless. We need to be Sanctified, set apart for service. Delivered and proven.

John 14: 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

There are NO shortcuts. We need to be justified before we can ever get sanctified. We need to be Sanctified before we can ever be filled. That is one of the reasons we have so many foolish virgins. They try to skip a step.

It will never work. God’s temple is complete!

The Holiest of Holies. This is where the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat. We just read that.

Do NOT Defile the temple of God.

Matthew 15: 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

We worship God with our mouths and bless the Lord Jesus Christ, then turn around and curse man that is made in the likeness and image of God. When we deny God’s word, we defile our temple. God’s word says we are healed, yet we will confess that we are sick. LIES! Contrary to his Word. Defiling us.

Get hold of your tongue!

2 Corinthians 6: 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

No yoke. This is not only marriage. It is especially marriage, but not only. Here are a couple of more common yokes that the Word of God forbids.

Don’t get yoked in business.

Don’t get yoked in activities.

Don’t get yoked in a church.

Don’t yoke yourself in politics.

Don’t yoke yourself in traditions.

Don’t yoke yourselves in cultures.

Colossians 2: 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

All those things are carnal, worldly, fleshly. Get rid of it. They will keep you out of the Holiest of Holies. They will stand between you and God’s HOLY Temple. We need to enter the HOLY Temple.

We need to become the Lord’s Holy Temple!

1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Not only do we need to abstain from that which is evil, but the very appearance of it. It will destroy your testimony. It will defile your temple. It will keep you a foolish virgin. Lot had no testimony in Sodom because his testimony had been defiled.

2 Timothy 2: 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Iniquity will bring death. Doing stuff that you know better is iniquity. Also not doing things that you know you must is iniquity. All who name the name of Jesus Christ. That name is God’s name. That is where he placed his name, in his HOLY Temple. Depart from everything remotely evil. If you are unsure, get rid of it.

Now it gets really good. Here is the desert.

Revelation 22: 9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

The Bride is the Holy City! You and I are the Holy City! We descend. And people say there is no rapture. How did we get up there to descend if there is no rapture? The Bride! YOU!

Oh it gets even better.

Revelation 22: 22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There is no need of a temple because God is in his Holy Temple. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple. God is still in his Word. He is still in LOGOS. He never left it! That was his first and ONLY Temple. We become his Temple because Logos dwells in us. He was in Logos in the beginning. He is in Logos now. He will be in Logos for all eternity! He is in His Holy Temple!

And to bring that home:

Daniel 9: 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.